Man convicted in '99 fatal DUI crash, gets 6 years in new DUI case

Man sentenced to 6 years in 2013 DUI case was involved in 1999 fatal DUI crash

Prior to being sentenced today to six years in prison for a more recent DUI conviction, Walter Depner said he will never forget Aug. 21, 1999, when he killed four members of a family while he was driving drunk.

“I will never stop thinking about that night,” Depner wrote in a letter to the judge, read out loud by his attorney Mark Facchini in court prior to sentencing.

Depner, 62, was still on parole from the earlier crash when he was arrested in February 2013 after authorities said he drove a vehicle into a ditch and then wandered into an acquaintance’s nearby home after ingesting alcohol and prescription drugs.

In 1999, Depner had been drunk when his car collided head-on with a vehicle carrying the Burleson family as they were headed home from a day at Six Flags Great America theme park in Gurnee. The crash seriously injured Thomas Burleson and killed his wife Eva Marie and their three children.

Thomas Burleson was present at the sentencing today in McHenry County.

“Even with our history, my heart goes out to him,” Burleson said adding that he had forgiven Depner years ago.

damn!! the surviving victim from the '99 crash is really an inspiration to me. he not only was able to move on with his life after losing his wife and 3 children but he was able to find it in his heart to forgive this Depner guy...

“He is a lost, lonely old man. He’s brought a lot of this on himself. I feel sorry for the family. I didn’t come here to rub it in his face. ... I hope he finds peace,” Burleson said.

Prosecutors said Depner admitted to drinking and taking 30 to 40 Klonopin pills before his 2013 arrest, and in July he pleaded guilty to aggravated DUI in the case.

Authorities have said Depner drove his girlfriend’s car into a ditch and then a snow bank before staggering to a nearby home near Lakemoor.

When an ambulance arrived, Depner was too drunk to stand up and walk. He had been slurring, crying and mumbling about the fatal 1999 crash he had caused, authorities said.

Depner wrote that, when released from prison after 13 years, he received no help or therapy for his major depressive disorder or post traumatic stress disorder.

He came out of prison to find he had lost his home and his family. He could not find a job and had to rely on family to support him. He moved in with his elderly mother in Mount Prospect. He said his mother “made me feel useless.”

He said on the night of his 2013 arrest, he had argued with his mother and then with his girlfriend. He took the pills because, he said, he was attempting to commit suicide. He then took his girlfriend’s truck and drove to his old neighborhood, where he lived prior to the 1999 crash.

“I know what I did was wrong,” he said asking for a two-year sentence and help for his depression, anxiety and PTSD. “I need help. ... Prison doesn’t help anybody. I made a mistake. I do not even know how to interact with my children or grandchildren.”

Depner’s brother, Joseph Depner, 66, broke down in tears when he took the stand and asked the judge to show leniency.

“I have known Walter Depner (his) whole life,” Joseph Depner said, sobbing. “Not only is he my brother, he is also my best friend. He is more than the sum of his actions on the day he committed the crime.”

Describing him as a “good brother and a good and generous man” who after coming out of prison could not adjust to society, he said, “I know he screwed up, but I’d like him to be around at least to help out with his mom.”

With day-for-day credit, Depner could be released from prison in three years.

Burleson said the hardest part of the sentencing was listening as Assistant State’s Attorney David Metnick listed the names of the family members he lost in the 1999 crash.

In asking for the maximum sentence, Metnick said Depner is “a dangerous person who will not and cannot be rehabilitated.”

Metnick countered Depner’s statement that he lost everything after the 1999 crash.

“The people that lost everything are the people he killed,” Metnick said. “The defendant didn’t lose his wife and kids. Tom Burleson ... lost his wife and kids.”

He said the defense was having a “pity party” and that Depner “earned every single day in prison for killing four people.”

Both crashes occurred on Illinois Highway 120, not far from each other.

Burleson has remarried and has two sons, ages 6 and 10. He and his wife also had a daughter, Abigaele, in 2005 who died two days after her birth.

Mollie Burleson said their daughter died in her husband’s arms. She made sure he held her because he never got to hold his first three children on the night they died.

The couple said each year on Aug. 21 they have “family day” to remember Burleson’s first family.

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